Rotary steam-engine



JOHN ROBINGSON,

0F NEW BRIGHTON, PENNSYLVANIA.

ROTARY STEAM-ENGINE.

Specification of Letters Patent N o.

To aZZ whom t may concern.'

Be it known that I, JOHN ROBINGsoN, of New Brighton, in the county of Beaver and State of Pennsylvania, have invented a new and useful Improvement in Rotary Engines1 to be Impelled by Steam or other Fluid; and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and eXact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, forming part of this spec iiication, in which-.-

Figure l, is a vertical section taken perpen-` dicularlyto the axis of an engine constructed according to `my invention. Fig. 2, isa vertical section of the same, parallel with the shaft. Fig. 3, is a side view of the piston head, supposed to be seen looking inthe same direction as at Fig'. 2.

Similar letters of reference indicate corresponding parts in both figures.

This invention relates to rotaryengines, having a piston which is fixed relatively to the rotating shaft or only to a slightextent yielding, and sliding abut-ments. The improvenient consists in` a certain nove-l arrangement of induction and eduction passages on opposite sides of the piston.

To enable others skilled in the art tofmake and use my invent-ion, I will proceed to describe its construction and operation.,

A, is the cylinder which is bored truly throughout and provided, at diametrically opposite points, with slots to receive two sliding abutments, B, B which are nearly of the full length of the cylinder. It is secured to a bed-plate P, which also supports the bearings R, R, of the main shaft.

C, is the main shaft, which may be formed all in one piece with, or have rigidly attached to it in any suitable manner, the cylindrical piston head D. This cylindrical piston head has a collar E, at or near each end, which may be cast with or otherwise secured to it, said collars being at a proper distance apart to receive, between their inner faces the sliding abutments B, B, the sides of which should be packed to fit steam-tight between the colla-rs. The collars E, E, are fitted on their peripheries with metallic packing rings a, a, which itto the interior of the cylinder and confine the steam within the quadrangular passage F, that is formed between the piston head, the collars and the cylinder, for the piston G, to work in. The cylinder has a lanch j, bolted at each end 15,667, dated september 2, 185e.

to overlaptthe, collars of the piston ,head to .prevent any `longitudinal movement` thereof, but otherwise, the cylinder has no heads. `The piston head has a cavity b, b', in its interior whose transverse form is shown in Fig. l, the principal portion ofthe said cavityzbeing cylindrical and occupying the center of the piston head, and from this cylin-` drical portion, a passa-gcc, c', leads through one side of thepistonhead. This cavityl extends the whole lengthtbetween the heads and collars E, E. The ends of the cavity b, ZX, and passage .c, c, are grooved as shown at eZ, CZ, in F ig.` 8and the backis grooved as shownat e, in Fig, l,2 to receive` the ends and back edge ofthe piston G, Whichiwhen in the said grooves, divides-the cavity c, c1, 6,51, intotwo passages c, b, andfcl, b1, one of which constitutesa portion :of the-.induction passage. to admit steam to theA piston passage F,

and the `other anv` eduction passage for the exhaustion of thesteam therefrom,

the former passage-c, b, communicatingby a,

narrow.- passage f, see Fig.- 2,: terminating `in a groove. g, made i around the shaft c, outside of the cylinder, andfthe. ,latter `c', bf, com municating by asimilar passage fg, terminatingl J in -af-groove, gli, made around the shaft `outsidelthe ygroove g..-

The `two `:grooves g., and, i gf. are` inclosed in a stationary box H, around the shaft and which contains two passages z', and c, leading up to a reversing cock I, which has one passage lo, see Fig. 2, leading half way around its plug to the induction steam pipe J, and another passage Z, leading directly through the interior of and through one end of the plug which is to connect with the eduction steam pipe. Vhen the cock is in the position shown in Fig. 2, the passage z', is in communication, through the passage lc, with the induction pipe and the passage z", is in communication through the passage Z, `with the eduction pipe, consequently, c, b, f, g, z', constitute the induction passage, and c, b, f, g', z, constitute the eduction passage, but if the cock I, be moved to bring its passage Ic, into communication with the passage z" and its passage Z, into communication with the passage z', the induction and eduction pasages will be changed. By this arrangement, the steam may be admitted to either side of the piston and exhausted on the other side, at pleasure, to cause the piston head and the rment boXes N, N. This main shaft to rotate in either direction and to have the direction of their rotation reversed at pleasure.

The piston G, consists simply of a plate of material with parallel faces fitted easily into the grooves ,rl, and c. It has a spring h, applied to its back edge within the groove e, to force it out against the inner periphery of the piston, and other springs 2, 2, are applied to it to rest upon the outside of the piston head for the same purpose. These springs allow the piston to yield to any unevenness of the surface of the cylinder and force the piston out to compensate for wear by friction against the cylinder. The piston is kept steam tight around its sides and the back edge by the pressure of the steam upon it, which forces it up against one side of the grooves d, d, c.

The sliding abutments are moved outward to allow the piston to pass them and returned again into the cylinder after the pistons pass them, by meansof two grooved camsL, L, on the main shaft, outside the cylinder acting on cross heads M, M, with which the rods are connected, by rods m, m, working through the backs of the abutmethod of operating the sliding abutment is substantially like that employed in many other rotary engines and therefore needs no further or particular description. Now in this projecting arrangement of the piston G radially within or through the hollow shaft o'r head D and passages c, 0 b Z9 on either side of it within said head and extending the width of the piston, the admission and escape of the steam to and from the piston is uniform andrapid throughout and to or over the whole breadth of the' piston and all twist or strain at either end of the piston or inequality of pressure is avoided and by the quick relief from opposing pressure which is afforded in the waste steam rapidly passing off throughout the whole breadth of the piston to the exhaust, the effective power of the engine is largely increased especially where occasion requires the motion'of the engine to be suddenly reversed; and the piston thus dividing the hollow head D performs the double function or use, viz, of piston and partition to form the inlet and outlet passages c c and b b.

I do not claim the hollow shaft or piston head D with a passage or passages in its periphery to admit or carry olf the propelling gas or fluid as such, but with a lateral arrangement of said passages in relation to the radial piston and employing a separate transverse partition in the hollow head to form inlet and outlet chambers at opposite ends of the piston, has before been used. But

What I do claim herein as new and useful in the description of rotary engines referred to is- The arrangement of the piston G pro-A j ecting radially into, within or through the hollow head D, and forming inlet and outlet cavities or passages 0 c and b b 0n either side of it across its whole breadth or face substantially as shown and described for the purposes set forth.

J NO. ROBINGSON.

lVitneses:

C. R. TU'ITLE, JOHN M. TUTTLE. 

